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+ Best Continuing TV-series of the Year
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| The Fishers caught in a mid-air moment of lightness on this poster for the fourth season of Alan Ball's Six Feet Under |
The following review of creator Alan Ball's (True Blood (2008-14)) seminal drama series, which revolves around the funeral home-running Fisher family in Los Angeles, contains SPOILERS.
The season's first death, (every episode opens with a death, - usually a person that will subsequently pass through the funeral home in the course of the episode), is an LSD-trip, which ends in a fatal free-fall; an appropriate anti-drug message from a show with lead characters that don't shy away from drug experiences themselves.
The season kicks off right where season 3 ended: Nathaniel's (Peter Krause (Cybill (1995-97))) wife Lisa has been found dead after going missing, and Nate and his brother David (Michael C. Hall (The Trouble with Bliss (2011))) drive north to claim her remains. Nate overhears Lisa's family's requests and instead buries his late wife in nature, as she had wished it. He experiences problems working in the funeral home subsequently and takes a temporary leave to readjust himself while working as a dog-walker.
Long-time employee and now also a partner in the business, embalmer and restorative artist Rico (Freddy Rodríguez (Bull (2016-19))) starts a demanding relationship on the sly with a stripper, which his wife Vanessa (Justina Machado (The Call (2013))) discovers: She consequently trashes the woman's car and throws Rico out of their home in a bout of fury.
Nate and David's mother Ruth's (Frances Conroy (Angela (1995))) new husband (following the sudden death of their father and her husband through decades, Nathaniel, at the first season's outset) aloof George (James Cromwell (Babe (1995))) gets turd sent in the mail, which plants a doubt about him. Strange employee Arthur (Rainn Wilson (Uncanny (2015))) gets wrongfully fired as a result, before George comes clean about its being his alienated son Kyle, who is sending the unenviable mail.
David's long-time boyfriend Keith (Matthew St. Patrick (Alien Raiders (2008))) goes on a tour as security for young pop-star Celeste, whom he has sex with - and gets fired by.
David goes through the worst day of his life (episode 5: That's My Dog): A sickening episode in which a psychopathic hitchhiker tortures and threatens David for hours through LA.
Nate and David's younger sister, live-at-home art student Claire (Lauren Ambrose (Swimming (2000))) experiments with her sexuality with power-dyke co-ed Edie (Mena Suvari (American Beauty (1999))) and gets to put up an art show. Ill-equipped to handle the pressure and attention, on the big night she is pompous and coked out. She later enjoys her first orgasm, given to her by Peter Facinelli (The Lather Effect (2006))).
Nate reconnects with past girlfriend and long-time affair Brenda (Rachel Griffiths (Hacksaw Ridge (2016))), who is taking classes to become a therapist.
The season wraps up with intense drama on several fronts: Though Nate has just started connecting a bit with difficult George, he and Ruth's paths stray, as she gets into tantra following a liberating Mexico trip with her wild spirit friend Bettina (Kathy Bates (Valentine's Day (2010))), and he moves into his bomb-shelter in their basement, increasingly paranoid, needing attention from his daughter Maggie (Tina Holmes (Buoy (2012))). David suffers greatly in the aftermath of his attack; he sees the attacker in prison, but this does not change his wounds. - Meanwhile he and Keith plow on in planning to start a rainbow family with surrogacy and adoption.
At an ash-ceremony in Lisa's native Idaho, Nate is attacked by her family for his disposal of her body, but he also learns through a photograph in a book the awful truth behind her mysterious lapse: Her sister's husband was behind her death on a run-away trip as part of a longer affair between the two. As this is revealed, the man, Hoyt, takes his life in front of his family.
Season 4 is packed, at times volatile, and transgressive. It holds each character's dramatic journey authentic and believable, with powerhouse performances across the board, and remains a must-see.
Best episodes:
Episode 5: That's My Dog - Written by Scott Buck (Rome (2007, TV-series)); directed by Alan Poul (The Newsroom (2012-14))
David's life is shaken to its core, as he only just escapes a devastating encounter with random violence and cruelty, taken prisoner by a psychopath hitchhiker one day.
Episode 6: Terror Starts at Home - Written by Kate Robin (One Mississippi (2016-17)); directed by Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt (2009))
An incredibly strong and jam-packed episode: Ruth and George's deteriorating relationship worsens; David is falling apart, and Brenda feels claustrophobia in her increasingly serious relationship with her neighbor Joe (Justin Theroux (Bumblebee (2018))).
Related posts:
Alan Ball: 2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Six Feet Under - season 3 (2003) - The Fishers endure to meet a new profound loss in spectacular drama
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death
Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
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[Six Feet Under - season 4 was originally broadcast from 13 June - 12 September at HBO and runs 12 x 55 minute episodes, totaling approximately 660 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles. The season averaged 3.7 mil. viewers in the US, a million down from the previous season; probably instrumental in its being decided that the 5th season would be the show's last. Besides the ratings the show has enjoyed a solid afterlife on home video and now streaming platforms, generating more - regrettably unpublicized - revenue. The season was nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys and 3 Creative Emmys. The show sits at #89 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250 for TV, between Dark (2017-) and South Park (1997-). The show returned on 5 June 2005 with the concluding season 5. Ball returned with something different with Towelhead (2007), which he adapted, produced and directed. Krause returned in Civic Duty (2006); Hall in Bereft (2004); Conroy in Catwoman (2004), and Ambrose in Admissions (2004). Six Feet Under - season 4 has been given a 4.4/5 rating by audiences at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Six Feet Under - season 4?
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